


Asking

by SuzuBells



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-31
Updated: 2017-10-19
Packaged: 2018-05-17 09:19:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5863450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuzuBells/pseuds/SuzuBells
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There is a girl. She has everything she could ever ask for and nothing that she truly wants.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First Words

Piper has no parents.

Her mother leaves when she is born—leaves Piper’s father with a baby girl and a _goodbye, goodbye_ and nothing else in the world. When Piper is finally old enough to ask where her mother is, it breaks her father’s heart.

Piper is told that her mother is beautiful, the most beautiful woman in the world. She is too beautiful and too elegant and too fine for the small town where Piper lives, for Piper’s father, for Piper herself. Piper’s mother is a woman that she knows everything important and nothing at all about.

Piper’s mother is the first thing that she truly wants.

Piper’s father is an actor. He is part of a traveling show, and his troupe tours the world. Piper is told that her father’s show is amazing. It is full of glitter and sparkles and flashing lights, of golden jewelry and huge fancy jewels. Piper has never seen her father’s show.

When Piper is little, her father is always with her. He plays with her and calls her things like _my princess_ and _the cutest little girl in the world_ and says _I love you_. He says _I love you_ , and it is true. Piper believes him. So even if she has only him, even if Piper wants her mother, she is happy.

When Piper is a little older, still little but a little older, her father joins the show. He leaves her, but only every so often. Piper is upset, but whenever he comes back he makes up for it by smothering her in hugs and kisses and love.

He comes back to the little town where Piper lives and crouches down, holds out his arms and says _how’s my little girl?_ and _I missed you_. He says _I love you_ , and it is true. Piper believes him. So even if she misses him sometimes, he always comes back.

And he tells her tales of places far and gives her gifts—little gifts, but ones that mean the world to Piper. He says _this is a candy made by a small confectioner in the capital_ and _once there was a little princess, just like you, and she…_

Then it happens. The show becomes popular. The troupe makes lots of money. Piper’s father goes away a little sooner and stays away a little longer each time. Piper is sad, but he makes up for it even more. He says _I’m sorry_ and _you are the world to me_. He says _I love you_ , and it is true. Piper believes him.

And he tells her even wilder tales and gives her expensive treasures. He says _this is a pearl brooch from a remote island in the uncharted part of the ocean_ and _once there was a goddess, and she was born from seafoam_.

But then Piper’s father’s troupe becomes even more famous. People all over the world want them to come and perform. Everyone knows the name of Tristan McLean. Piper starts to have Nice Things. One day Piper’s father takes her hand and says _this is where we’re going to build our new house._

Piper is excited for her new house, big house. Her father says she’ll be happy there, she’ll have all the expensive dresses made of silk and lace and gold and pearls, and it is true. When the house is built, it is like nothing the town has ever seen before. Piper has expensive dresses made of silk and lace and gold and pearls. Piper is a real princess.

But Piper’s father goes away for months at a time now, and he barely stays a week. He gives her all the treasures in the world but he doesn’t say _I missed you so much_ and _my little princess, how have you been?_ He can only spend a day with her and is always busy. But he says _I love you_ , and it is still true. Piper still believes him.

Then he goes away even longer. One day, he comes home after four months away, tells Piper _I love you_ and leaves an hour later. He says _I love you_ , and Piper isn’t so sure if it is true. Piper isn’t sure if she believes him. One day he says _this is Jane, she’ll take care of you when I’m away._ Piper wants to say _does that mean she’ll take care of me forever?_ but she doesn’t.

Piper doesn’t have a father anymore.

Jane isn’t nice. Jane makes Piper study all the time and learn Mathematics and Sciences and History. Jane makes Piper wear her Nice Clothes with the itchy collars and uncomfortable shoes and she can’t play. Jane has no time for play. Jane is a Busy Woman, far too busy for Piper.

Piper’s father is the second thing she truly wants.

Piper doesn’t want Jane. Expensive dresses made of silk and lace and gold and pearls and Jane are the first things Piper truly doesn’t want.

 

Piper is special. One day she learns this. It’s not long after Jane comes into her life, when she’s still young and when she still somewhat believes her father when he says _I love you_. It is a good day, because Piper has been good and Jane takes her to the market. She talks to adults about Important Things, and Piper is left alone.

Piper wanders. She is a little girl, and she hasn’t been to the market ever. It is a big place, full of strange things. She sees a stall full of little dolls. They are made of porcelain, and their delicate smiling faces and pink blush attract her. Their clothes are as fancy as Piper’s. She picks one up. It has black hair and a white face and a yellow ball gown with three layers. Piper wants it.

Piper wants to ask her father for the doll, but he isn’t there. Her father said _if there’s something you want, just ask Jane_ so Piper goes to Jane. She tugs on the woman’s dress while she’s talking to a man in a suit. Jane barely glances down at her before she says she’s busy.

Piper wants the doll, but Jane won’t get it for her. So she talks to the man who owns the stand. He makes the dolls. _Hello, little girl_ , he says and smiles and pats her head. He reminds her of her father, so Piper points to the doll. She says she wants it. The dollmaker hesitates. His eyes cloud over. _Yes_ , he says slowly. _You can have the doll_. Piper takes it. Neither her father nor Jane notice it.

Time passes. Piper takes more and more things. She asks, they give. At first she doesn’t realize she’s doing it, but one day she asks her father to stay. He brings himself down to her height and looks into her eyes. He says _I’m sorry_. He says _I love you_. Piper almost believes him. And she realizes that her father is the one person who won’t give her what she asks.

Piper is a girl with everything she could ever ask for and nothing that she truly wants.


	2. Conversations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is dedicated to Lila17, even though I already wrote it before their comment, because I may never have posted it if not for them. I probably won't update this again, but it will remain marked as incomplete.

            Piper’s first friend is Leo. They meet when they are eight. Jane has been around for a few years, and she and Piper have gotten used to each other. This is why Piper is allowed into the gardens that day. It is evening and the sun is setting.

            It will be dark soon, and Piper will have to go inside then. For now she sits on the swing in the garden, kicking her legs back and forth. She spends all of her precious free time outside, away from the oppressiveness of the house and away from Jane.

            The particular garden Piper is in is her favorite. The house has many, but this one is the one with a swing ( _What do you want our new house to be like?_ her father had asked. _Like a castle! I want a tower and ten bedrooms and twelve gardens and a wishing well and a big swing!_ ). And the east gate is there, and sometimes the gardeners leave it open. This is one of those times. When it happens, Piper likes to look outside and dream.

            It is then that she sees the boy. Piper is imagining stories and lives for the people who pass by, when a small and ragged boy comes into view. His clothes are dirty and he looks like he hasn’t eaten in forever. His face is smudged with dirt and he walks with his shoulders hunched, trudging along. Piper can’t come up with a story for him.

            She waves to him. When he doesn’t see her, she calls out. When he looks out, his face is full of surprise and confusion. But he comes over nonetheless, and asks _why do you want to talk to me?_ He is clearly sad, and Piper doesn’t like that. She asks him where he lives, where his parents are. The boy looks her in the eyes and bursts into tears.

            He says things like _please help me_ and _please believe me_. He says _please don’t leave me_. It is the first time Piper has ever been asked, rather than asking, and who is she to refuse? She sneaks the boy into the house. After all, it’s big enough for three. Jane will never notice.

             Piper and Leo get along famously. She tells him about her missing mother and her famous father. She tells him about how alone she is and about Jane. Leo says that his father is missing too, that he was always told he would meet him soon. He doesn’t say anything about his mother.

            But Piper can’t hide Leo forever. One day, she comes up with a solution. Piper asks Jane, and Jane doesn’t even spare her a glance before saying yes. Leo is hired as a servant boy, though he never does any work. He has a room in the servant’s quarters, but he and Piper are inseparable.

            Leo is never the same after that first week. Once he has his place in Piper’s home, he changes. He starts to make jokes, pull pranks, and smile all the time. His grin is mischievous and catching, and Piper just knows she’ll get roped into one of his crazy plans whenever she sees it.

            This is how they start sneaking out behind Jane’s back. Piper learns one day that when she’s at her lessons, Leo goes out into town. She meets up with him after History and he is covered in mud. Piper stifles a laugh. _I went outside_ , he says. The next thing she knows, he’s snatched a maid’s old dress from the laundry and an old man is yelling at them for stealing apples. When she’s dressed like this, Piper is unrecognizable.

            Leo is the first person Piper truly doesn’t want anything from.

            When they are sixteen, Leo proposes it. A truly crazy idea. They are sitting on the swing where Piper was when they first met. She is supposed to be learning about the monarchs of a kingdom ten thousand miles across the sea. The year before, her father sent her sixteen pairs of shoes from there. She tried to burn them but ended up burying them.

Leo says _let’s run away_. Briefly, Piper imagines. In her mind she sees a faceless woman lean over a crib with a newborn baby. A man sleeps in a bed next to the crib. The woman looks around one last time, then walks away from the scene. She sees the man hop into a wagon, a little girl waving at him. Another woman takes the girl away.

            She tells Leo she agrees. His eyes light up and he jumps off the swing. _We can go around for a while_ , he says. _Find a place where we can stay_ and _just live together_ and _we don’t need anyone else_. Jane will never notice. Piper looks out the east gate at the setting sun and makes up a story about a boy and a girl.

            Piper is a girl with everything she could ever ask for and starting to think she’s been wanting the wrong things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, the detail about the sun is intentional.


End file.
